The present invention relates to an apparatus for issuing data cards and in particular to an apparatus for issuing integrated circuit cards.
There are presently two types of data card that can be used in transaction terminals such as Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): a magnetic stripe card; and an integrated circuit (IC) card. IC cards, commonly referred to as "smart cards", carry an IC chip which can be configured to provide a variety of functions, as is well known to persons skilled in the art.
Both types of card can store a variety of encoded user information, such as account information, or user identification information in the form of a so called PIN (Personal Identification Number) which is required by an ATM before the ATM will grant a user access to the services provided by the ATM.
However, a smart card can store considerably more information than a magnetic stripe card. For example, a smart card can be loaded, repeatedly and easily, with electronic data representative of a sum of money, the corresponding sum of money being debited from the user's bank account. The user is then able to use the smart card instead of cash in shops and other business outlets provided with a smart card reader/writer, the data in the card being adjusted to reflect each transaction. As the number of business outlets providing this so-called electronic cash service increases and the number of other functions provided by smart cards increases, more magnetic stripe card users will wish to be issued with a smart card. This demand for smart cards is likely to put an increasing administrative burden on the financial institutions that issued the magnetic stripe cards and which will be required to issue the replacement smart cards.